Labor has been doing its darnedest this week to pretend that Nothing Has Changed.
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As Tony Burke optimistically opined, all Malcolm Turnbull offered in his first question time as Prime Minister was "a nicer suit".
"Basically it was Tony Abbott with elocution."
It's fair to say that Turnbull's first couple of QT hitouts did not set the government on fire. It wasn't that he stumbled or looked uneasy, it was more that his arguments were accompanied by a side of waffle.
But on Thursday, typically a day when MPs are sick of Parliament and just want to go home, Australia's 29th Prime Minister tuned up with a bag full of pep.
Question time began with a missive from Bill Shorten. The Labor leader wanted to know about a leak against Turnbull and his gender equity record as Communications Minister, published by Fairfax Media that morning.
"Given that it's only taken two days for the Liberal cabinet to start leaking again, doesn't this just prove that even though there's a new Liberal leader, it's the same policies, the same chaos and the same division?"
But while Labor thought they would put Turnbull in the awkward corner, they quickly found they were trapped there themselves.
"The heartlessness of the Leader of the Opposition is in full evidence today," the Prime Minister replied, as relaxed and comfortable as if he was telling his mates a story on a yacht.
"I mean, he has no compassion, no feeling, for the thousands of people watching question time, week after week, whom he bores and drives to the point of complete frustration with one pointless claim after another."
Amid roars from both sides,Turnbull pressed on, offering to "help" Shorten by reframing the question for him.
Sensing danger, Albo jumped up to argue that "question time" means that "there's questions and answers, not from the same person". But to no avail. Speaker Tony Smith dismissed the point of order and Turnbull was only starting to wind up.
"Mr Speaker, it is indicative of the engaging and collaborative style of my government that I'm prepared to help the Leader of the Opposition and actually show him a question," Turnbull purred.
"The question could have been ... 'How does the Prime Minister react to the claim that a very small percentage of women were appointed by him to government boards?' "
Without missing a beat, Turnbull answered his own question - and with more relish than a Country Women's Association stall.
"The government remains committed to its target of women holding 40 per cent of positions on Australian government boards and I point to the official data which will be published ... later this year and it shows that women held 40 per cent of communications portfolio board appointments."
Boom.
At that, Turnbull took his seat.
It might just be a nicer suit and elocution but Labor was no match for them.
